Government tender sites in Canada: the complete list of where tenders actually post
Federal, provincial, municipal and education buyers each post on a different site. Here is every Canadian government tender source, what it costs, and who posts there.
The federal site: CanadaBuys
CanadaBuys is the Government of Canada's official source for tender notices and contract awards — every department posts competitive opportunities there, and suppliers register in SAP Ariba through CanadaBuys to see documents, attend bid processes and submit. Federal tendering is free for suppliers, and the site carries the procurement forms and templates, including the standard construction tender form used across federal projects. If you only register on one Canadian tender site, this is the one: it covers the single largest buyer in the country.The provincial and territorial portals
Each province operates an official portal, and they are all free to search: SaskTenders (run by SaskBuilds and Procurement for Saskatchewan government tenders), the Alberta Purchasing Connection for Alberta government and broader-public-sector postings, BC Bid for British Columbia, and the SEAO (Système électronique d'appel d'offres) for Quebec — the mandatory site for most Quebec public-sector contracts. These portals list government-level opportunities; municipalities, universities and school boards usually post elsewhere, on the platforms below.The private platforms and aggregators
Most municipal and education buyers license a commercial platform, and each carries a slice of the Canadian tender market: MERX is the national aggregator (about $70 pay-per-solicitation, or monthly plans from roughly $50 to $167), Biddingo dominates Ontario municipal postings (annual subscriptions of a few hundred dollars; many cities also publish procurement calendars on their own sites), and bids&tenders is the platform behind nearly every Ontario district school board's bidding, with per-board portals at <board>.bidsandtenders.ca. Some buyers still post PDF notices on their own websites, so the buyer's own procurement page remains a source worth checking.Covering them all without 20 subscriptions
No single free portal shows the whole market — a contractor in Ontario can realistically need CanadaBuys, Biddingo, bids&tenders and a city's own site for full coverage. PubSec.Pro monitors all of these sources continuously and delivers them as one searchable feed, so you subscribe once instead of five times: see today's open opportunities across federal, provincial, municipal and education buyers.Frequently asked questions
What is the official Government of Canada tender website?
CanadaBuys (canadabuys.canada.ca) is the official source for Government of Canada tender notices and awards, and federal bidding now runs through SAP Ariba, where suppliers register to view documents and submit bids. Older addresses like buyandsell.gc.ca point to CanadaBuys. Each provincial government runs its own official portal — SaskTenders, the Alberta Purchasing Connection, BC Bid and the SEAO in Quebec.
Is it free to use Canada's government tender sites?
The official government portals are free for suppliers: CanadaBuys, SaskTenders, the Alberta Purchasing Connection, BC Bid and SEAO let you search and bid without a subscription. The private aggregators are the paid tier — MERX charges about $70 to unlock a single solicitation or monthly plans from roughly $50 to $167, and Biddingo charges an annual municipal-market subscription of a few hundred dollars a year.
What is the difference between MERX, Biddingo and bids&tenders?
They are private platforms that different buyer groups have adopted: MERX is the long-running national aggregator used by federal agencies, hospitals and major Crown corporations; Biddingo is the standard for Ontario municipalities; and bids&tenders is the eProcurement platform used by most Ontario school boards and many other public-sector buyers. A given buyer posts on the platform it has licensed — the buyer's own website always names its platform.
Where do I find Ontario school board tenders?
Almost every Ontario district school board posts its bids on bids&tenders — boards like the TDSB, YRDSB, WRDSB and Ottawa-Carleton each operate their own portal at
PubSec.Pro monitors every Canadian public-sector tender source in real time — see today's open opportunities.